Tipperary choir returns from a very enjoyable trip to Vienna

Belle Voci Choir have just returned from their latest overseas festival trip. So far we have visited Prague, Lisbon, and Vasto in Italy.

This year the Clonmel choir  chose Vienna. What a beautiful city! Easy to navigate, clean, and so many things to see!
We had a very early start on Thursday, or late Wednesday depending on how you look at it; leaving Clonmel at 1:30am we arrived at our hotel around lunch time.

READ MORE: Much loved hairdresser was the victim of Tipperary house fire

These group trips can be hard on all of us, the travelling, the unavoidable closeness, shared rooms etc; it definitely makes us appreciate the one amongst us who organises the trip from A to Z. From research, to reservations, boarding passes to counting heads and all things in between, she is outstanding at it and we all hope she knows how much we appreciate all her hard work.

The only thing she doesn’t organise is the repertoire but Eamon O’Malley does this task, and all his other ones, brilliantly. We had what I personally consider a perfect balance of songs; folk, sacred and pop, well known and rarely heard, accapella and accompanied, simple and complex.

The Wein Music Festival is for choirs and music ensembles so there was a great mix to listen to. We started on Saturday morning in the Minoritenkirche (Minorite Church), 13 participants from 12 countries, each with under 10 minutes on stage, sacred pieces only.

We sang Psallam Deo, and O Magnun Mysterium. Then some free time to enjoy the area and make our way to the theatre to sound check for our concert in the evening. Along with 4 of the other choirs we each had about 30 minutes on stage so it was a long night. T

he remaining choirs had their concerts on the Sunday afternoon and evening.
It’s easy for me to say we were very well received because I was there, and most of you weren’t, but really and truly we got some very heartfelt and spontaneous applause and compliments from other participants and audience members.

The language is always a barrier, but smiles, hand clasps, and pats on the shoulder speak volumes. Our final piece was The Parting Glass which I found very emotional because of a recent family bereavement. I was engulfed in hugs from my fellow Belles and Eamon, but was also by strangers including two Spanish ladies who didn’t need to understand me or I them to offer sympathy and solace.

Music is universal, it doesn’t matter the language, the emotion is the important part and we definitely have that. We hope we represented Ireland well and metaphorically flew the flag high.

By the time this is published we will have also sung in St. Mary's Church, Kilsheelan, by kind invitation, along with the Soul Song Gospel Choir from Waterford and several other local musicians and traditional groups. We’re looking forward to hearing each other as well as supporting this very worthy cause.

All that remains is to say thanks again. First and always, thanks to our Musical Director, Eamon O’Malley for encouraging us, believing in us, challenging us, laughing with us and pushing us. We are better because of you and your confidence in us. We hope to continue to grow under your baton, and by baton I mean hands, head nods, sign language and facial expressions. We would not be the choir we are, or have the confidence to participate in festivals like this one without you.

We also thank Ann O’Malley for joining us as our videographer and honorary Belle. Thanks to Sue Esplan for so generously giving of her time to organise and herd us on these away trips. Thanks to Jean Brom for accompanying us on the piano in Vienna. Thanks as always to Tipperary County Council for their continuing support of us and other artistic endeavours in Clonmel.

And to finish, I think we need to thank ourselves. Ladies, we always pile on the compliments after a performance and they are always sincere and very much deserved but lets add ourselves to that list of “thank yous”. We do the work, we give our time and effort, we put a lot of ourselves in our choir and we need to remember that there would be no Belles without that. Thank you all for a very enjoyable weekend of music but also laughter, camaraderie, new experiences, getting to know each other better, good food, wine, Christmas markets, cultural visits, a few new inside jokes, a small amount of sleep and a hiatus from our everyday lives back home. I for one, am looking forward to the next trip already.

READ NEXT: Tipperary beekeepers display their produce at annual show

Please join us for our Christmas concert on Friday the 12th of December in Ferryhouse Church at 7:30pm. Special Guests Sean Callaghan and Dave Corbett from The Tipperary Ramblers, and Traditional musicians Sarah O’Gorman on fiddle and Pol Culbert on banjo.

As usual entry is free with a collection on the door for a local charity. This year our chosen charity is Family Carers, please come along and help us support this very worthy cause.